If your Microsoft Office is crashing every time you open it, then it’s probably caused by a buggy add-on. Aside from that it could also be caused by some issues with your customizations. So if you are currently experiencing this problem right now, then by all means, you can try opening your Microsoft Office applications in Safe Mode. With the help of Safe Mode, it loads all these Microsoft Office apps without all these features that are causing the problem. All Microsoft Office applications have a built-in Safe Mode feature. This helps users like you when you are not able to use Office normally. It could be that Word crashes whenever you open it or your Excel crashes when you open any files. You can start all these Office applications in Safe Mode so there’s a high chance that it will work like it used to.

So what is Office Safe Mode?

When you open any Office applications in Safe Mode, it will load without all those extensions or plug-ins, without the toolbars and even command bar customizations. Meaning to say, any recovered documents that would usually be opened automatically will not open. And AutoCorrect together with other various features won’t also work as well as the preferences which wouldn’t be saved.

In a way it is quite similar with the Windows Safe Mode, but don’t confuse these two though. In Windows Safe Mode, your WHOLE Windows operating system is restarted without all those third party drivers, and other startup programs that can cause problems. It’s actually the same idea, but it only applies to Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel or PowerPoint only. The question is, how do you do it? Well, follow the steps below and be guided.

Launch Office Safe Mode using a keyboard shortcut

To use this method, and open any Office apps in Safe Mode, tap the Ctrl key and hold it down while you click on the program’s shortcut.

For instance, if you want to launch Microsoft Word in Safe Mode, you need to look for Microsoft Word’s shortcut, in your Start menu, on your Taskbar or on your desktop. Once you’ve found it, tap and hold the Ctrl key and either single click the shortcut (if it’s in your Start menu or on your Taskbar) or double click it (if it’s on your desktop).

You will then see a message stating “You’re holding down the CTRL key. Do you want to start [Application] in Safe Mode?”, if you see this message, you can release the Ctrl key and then click on OK to launch Word in Safe Mode.

Launch Safe Mode using a command argument

Aside from the keyboard shortcut, you can also launch applications in Safe Mode by opening them using the safe option. You can use this method using the Run dialog by tapping Win + R keys on your keyboard. After it opens, type one of the listed commands below:

Word: winword /safe

Excel: excel /safe

PowerPoint: powerpnt /safe

Outlook: outlook /safe

Publisher: mspub /safe

Visio: visio /safe

After typing your preferred command, tap Enter or click on OK and then the application will be launched in Safe Mode.

However, if you need to open an Office application regularly in Safe Mode, you could just simply create a new desktop shortcut to the Office applications and then add /safe to the end of the Target box on its Shortcut pane. That shortcut will always open the Office application in Safe Mode.

Leaving Safe Mode

To leave or exit Safe Mode, you will have to close the Office application and open it like you used to. Keep in mind though that if the Office application loads fine in Safe Mode but crashes when you launch it in normal mode, then the problem is likely a buggy add-in or extension. You can see this by Clicking on the File Menu > Option > Add-ins in Office 2016. You may have to uninstall, reinstall or update any of this add-ins if your Office keeps on crashing. However, if Office still crashes even when in Safe Mode, then its files might be corrupted. You can fix this by uninstalling and reinstalling Office on your PC.

And that’s about it.

For other computer problems, such as corrupted registries or slow PC performance, you can try a one-click solution in the form of PC Cleaner Pro. This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system.

Perform a full system scan using PC Cleaner Pro. To do so, follow the instructions below.

Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot

After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.

To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select SafeMode with Networking then hit